Amazon Reportedly Working on 4.7-inch Kindle Smartphone

New rumors say Amazon will release a Kindle smartphone sometime this year with a 4.7-inch display.

Citing “supply chain sources” DigiTimes notes that Amazon’s smartphone may come out sometime during the second quarter of 2013. The rumor would place the smartphone’s release sometime between April 1 and June 30, 2013. Amazon may miss that window, however, due to issues with Foxconn which will reportedly manufacture the phone.

As with all DigiTimes rumors, users should take this one with a grain of salt as the publication is often wrong.

Rumors say an Amazon smartphone is underway at Foxconn.

Previous rumors of the alleged Amazon Kindle smartphone said the device would use a 4.3-inch display. The company allegedly switched to a 4.7-inch display because users now seem to prefer larger screens. At 4.7-inches the Amazon Kindle phone would still have a smaller display than recent phones like the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

Amazon may also choose to upgrade other parts of the rumored phone to more recent components, which could account for the apparent delay of the phone. There’s no details about the specs of the phone, either in its original 4.3-inch form or the new 4.7-inch form. It’s impossible to tell what Amazon changed as the company never announced the device.

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An Amazon smartphone will likely carry the Kindle brand-name, though it’s not clear if Amazon will use the Kindle Fire brand on the phone, or create a new name. The phone will likely use the Amazon Appstore as the only way to get apps on the device.

That means users wouldn’t have access to Google services such as Gmail and Google Maps unless they find a way to put them on the phone themselves. Instead users will have to rely on Amazon’s email app and Amazon Maps which uses Nokia for location data.

The Amazon smartphone would a likely have access to services such as Amazon Instant Video which isn’t available on other Android smartphones.